The untold Stories
by DancingStar01
Summary: Because their car break down, the team has to spend the night in the mountains. In CHAPTER 2 Connor and Lindsay travel to Washington D.C. to help Sue: Sue's parents don t know about her and Jack's baby.Pairing C/L, Lots of J/S in Chapter 2
1. The untold Stories

Title: The Untold Stories  
>Author: DancingStar<br>Crossover: PSI Factor / Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye  
>Pairing: Connor  Lindsay, Jack / Sue  
>Rating: 12<br>Summaries: Because their car breaks down, the team has to spend the night in the mountains.  
>Notes: Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to me! It´s my Birthday, tomorrow. Happy Birthday to me<br>(Excuse me, but I love Nevada and California) I can´t believe that Sue Thomas F.B. Eye is broadcast in German television in 2011 after the show was filmed in 2002! In addition, only 6 episodes were synchronized for German TV. Too bad! Actually I like the show and would like to see more...

**The Untold Stories**

"Are we there yet?", asked Claire a little bit tired and hungry when she looked at the digital clock in the driver's cockpit of the Mobile Lab. It was already late and they were on their way to the next airport. They had just finished a case with a client in Northern California and wanted to return to the Headquarters. Their route would pass by Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada.  
>"I don´t know," Peter admitted honestly, "But you already asked thirty minutes ago."<br>"Because I'm hungry."  
>"There is certainly a pizza service in the next town. For once, we can stay there and you can order something for dinner or breakfast."<br>Claire thought about Peter's words and she wondered how long the ride to the next town would take. She wanted to ask, but in this moment red warning lights began to glow in front of Peter. Claire assumed this wasn´t a good sign and suddenly Peter exclaimed shocked: "The engine!"  
>White hissing steam rose from the left and right of the hood. Peter tried to brake and he could feel how the steering wheel was shaking in his hands. Likewise, the brake pedal twitched restlessly under his feet. The truck slid a few more feet forward and came to a stop. Peter exhaled relieved and Claire decided to get out. How they noticed the truck had stopped almost lateral on the lonely road. Peter immediately went to the hood and opened it, in which he pulled a lever in front of the radiator. An even greater cloud of steam escaped from the engine and Peter drew back.<br>Claire watched him and both didn´t notice how a van stopped behind the truck. Connor, Anton, Lindsay and Mia got out, passed the Mobile Lab and came to them.  
>"What's wrong?" Connor asked anxiously, "Are you okay?"<br>"I fear we have an engine failure... That never happened before!"  
>"Can you drive on?", asked Anton.<br>Peter watched how a cloud of steam came out of the radiator. "I wouldn´t risk it anyway," he said and Connor reached for his cell phone to call the breakdown service immediately. The team listened and Connor finished the conversation with a sigh of disappointment.  
>"The breakdown service isn´t available before tomorrow morning," he apologized, "The breakdown service in the next town probably doesn´t have a night service."<br>"So we stay here?", Mia asked and she really didn´t mind. Maybe it was nicer and funnier to camp here out in nature, than to sleep in an uncomfortable motel bed. In the last motel where they had stayed, the beds were uncomfortable, but also dirty. It did not happen often that they had to sleep in poor accommodation during their business trips, but sometimes it happened anyway.  
>"We could send someone to the next town and get help", suggested Lindsay, "How far is it to the next town?"<br>"Two hours by car..." That was because of there were no towns on this side of Lake Tahoe. With that Lindsay´s idea was smashed. She didn´t want to know how long it would take to walk to the nearest town. In the direction from which they came, there was nothing more than fields, meadows, forests and mountains since a three hour´s drive. So it was no option to drive back in the van. They were stranded in the middle of nowhere.  
>"Well," Peter sighed, "I´ll try to fix the truck." And in his mind he added this would be much easier if the truck would not block the road.<br>"Lindsay, Claire and I get the tents ready," Mia smiled at him. Fortunately, tents and sleeping bags were part of the OSIR standard equipment and for the case Peter wasn´t able to mark the start of the truck they wanted to pitch the tents better now.  
>They decided to pitch their camp a little off the road and so they camped between some dry bushes under the starry night sky. Only a few clouds were in the sky, they sometimes capped the moon.<br>Claire, Mia and Lindsay had fun with pitching the tents and when they didn´t come forth, they asked Connor for help. "I haven´t been camping for a very long time!", said Lindsay, laughing. She handed Connor a tent peg which he beat into the ground for stabilization of a green tent.  
>"Me neither," he admitted, "But it will be fun." At least they would be spared from a possible invasion of the slugs.<br>"I'll go and get the sleeping bags!", Claire called after Connor and Lindsay had pitched the last tent. Lindsay helped her to pick up inflatable air mattresses from the truck. She put a mattress, which then should be inflated by an electronic pump, in each of the six tents. While the pump was humming and predominated the musical chirping of crickets, Anton lit a fire in the middle of their camp.  
>Last Mia took a freezer to their tents. She glanced at her watch and noted that they stopped about 90 minutes ago on this lonely road in the mountains. Together with Lindsay Mia went to Peter in order to inquire how far he had come with the repair of the truck.<br>"It doesn´t look good. We definitely have to wait for the breakdown service", Peter said, wiping his greasy hands on his T-shirt. It was summer and it was very warm in the Sierra Nevada. The Nature reminded Lindsay a little bit of this old picture which once hung over the fireplace in her grandmother's house. It showed a long mountain range whose peaks were covered with snow.  
>Suddenly she had an absolutely absurd idea. "Do any bears live here?", she asked worried.<br>"No", Peter replied, "But there are cougars and coyotes..." He coughed, because the steam from the engine was still heavy in his lungs.  
>"That means we have to stay awake and make sure the fire is burning all night, because we don´t have a gun with us," Mia stated and Peter nodded in agreement. They went back to the campfire.<p>

Half an hour later a silver rental- car drove along the lonely mountain road. Jack Hudson was watching the street, while his companion was asleep in the passenger seat. On the back seat of the car their dog had curled up, the Golden Retriever also dozed. A smile flitted over Jack's face: Sue was so beautiful, even while she was sleeping and for one moment he imagined he´d push her blond hair out of her face and kiss her awake. But then he saw a white truck which was blocking the mountain road in front of them and Jack decreased the speed of his car.  
>Sue woke up and Levi on the back seat raised his head confused. "What's wrong?", she asked wearily.<br>"A truck blocks the road," said Jack, the car stopped now. Now Sue also noted the huge white truck which blocked the gravel road completely. The hood of the truck was open and still steam came out. It was an eerie sight.  
>Jack untied the belt and grabbed the driver's door. "You want to get out?", Sue asked horrified.<br>"I have to," Jack looked at her, "Maybe someone´s hurt."  
>Sue nodded and decided to come along. Together with Levi she followed Jack to the truck. When they walked around the truck, they realized it was empty. "Looks like no one´s here," said Sue, but Jack pointed to a faint glowing point about twenty feet away. He could see a campfire and some people had gathered around it. "Let's go," Jack suggested and Sue reached for Levi's collar.<br>Anton saw the two strangers at first and got up.  
>"Hi, we don´t want to bother you. We... ", Jack began, "I assume the white truck is yours... Well, it blocks the entire street."<br>"I'm sorry. We had an engine failure. I'm Anton Hendricks. We were on our way to the airport when it happened", Anton explained.  
>"I´m Jack Hudson, that´s Sue... This is Levi. He is my wife´s hearing dog", the young, dark-haired man held out his hand, "What´s in your truck?" He could not figure out what Anton and his friends, two men and three women, wanted to do here in the solitude of the Sierra Nevada. Except this was...<br>"The truck is our Mobile Lab. We are with the OSIR", said Anton and now the rest of the team members who had gathered around the fire got up, "This are Peter Axon, Connor Doyle, Claire Davison, Mia Stone and Lindsay Donner." Lindsay raised her hand, when Anton mentioned her name.  
>Jack had heard about the OSIR before. He had heard it was an organization which studied paranormal phenomena and he told his wife what the OSIR was.<br>"You said Levi is a hearing dog...", Lindsay looked at Sue and she nodded: "Yes, I´m deaf since childhood."  
>"But how did you know what I said?", Claire asked now very interested and fascinated.<br>"I can read lips… But I´m also good in sign language", Sue smiled and looked at them.  
>"Can we help you with your truck?", asked Jack.<br>"I don´t think that's possible," Peter told then, "The truck weighs so much we don´t get it off the road." Therefore, they had settled down _domestically_ next to the fire.  
>Jack remembered that next to the road on which the truck was standing, were narrow moats on the left and right. So he couldn´t drive past the truck in his car without getting stuck in the trenches.<br>"Unfortunately the breakdown service isn´t available before tomorrow morning", Connor told them.  
>"That means we have to return", Jack said to his wife.<br>"We are on the road for four hours," Sue recalled, "We can´t drive back all the way... You're tired." She and Jack were vacationing and had just left San Francisco. Their next stop was a small cottage on the Californian side of Lake Tahoe, where they would spend a few quiet and romantic days. Then they wanted to see Reno, Nevada, before they traveled back home. Now, a giant truck blocked the only access road to the little place where they would spend their holidays and Jack didn´t want to spend the night outside in the mountains. He was also worried about Sue, she would get a cold.  
>"Just sit down with us and join us waiting," now Connor suggested and the rest of the team nodded in agreement. Sue also didn´t mind. These people looked very friendly and it didn´t feel as if they were on the run or they would be crazy sect members. So they to the fireplace went with them. Jack and Sue sat next to Connor and Lindsay in front of an overturned tree.<br>"We have to stay up all night," Mia told them, "In fact we have no gun with us and because there are coyotes in the mountains, we must ensure the fire is burning all night long."  
>Lindsay asked Sue if she wanted to drink a cup of hot coffee, but she refused. When the blonde woman then pushed her jacket to the side Lindsay noticed why she gave up the coffee. Sue told her she was expecting her first baby in December, near her and her husbands´ first anniversary. This trip was the last holiday before her doctors would prohibit flying in a plane in the third trimester of pregnancy and maybe they should also visit Sue's parents. Her parents should know that she and her baby were in very good hands and Jack was caring well, even if they lived far away in Washington D.C. Sue´s mother sometimes still believed she couldn´t survive without her.<br>"Before you broke into our camp, we decided to tell the most scary things which ever happened to us", Mia continued and handed sandwiches out of her freezer to the guests and her friends, "And I tell my story first."

_I was sixteen years old and spent the holidays with my grandfather and my grandmother, who lived on the countryside. My grandfather owned a farm. He also had some milk cows and many fields that were farmed. I liked spending the summer with my mother´s parents. I liked even more that they spoiled me very much because I was their only grandchild. One night I stayed up longer because I wanted to watch a movie on TV. It was about 2 p.m. in the morning when I went to bed and I was just on the way to the stairs when I saw an eerie shadow standing at the window. Although I was shocked a little I decided not to pay too much attention to the shadow. So I went upstairs to the guest room where I always lived during my stay on the farm. The moment when I sat on the bed, I saw a figure that limped across the field which was located directly in front of the house. I didn´t know what to do, so I hurried to the window and tried to see anything. That night the moon was not shining, I remember, so I unfortunately could not see much. The strange shadow worried me a little while. The thought that it could be the shadow at the window, came to me much later. _  
><em>The next day I was helping my grandfather with sowing cereals on the field and in the ground I saw the footprints significantly. I asked my grandfather if people often sneaked around his house, but he knew nothing about it. I thought it was a coincidence and therefore I didn´t mind when my grandfather and my grandmother wanted to take an invitation on the same evening on one of the surrounding farms and they left me alone at home, because I did not want to come along. So I was sitting alone again in front of the television and even regretted that outside a thunderstorm was raging. The strong wind was blowing around the house and the barn and it moved the sound game, which hung on the terrace. I remember the sound very well... So I was sitting on the couch, watching television when I was suddenly asked by a strange voice who I was and what I did here. The voice didn´t belong to my grandparents and when I turned around, I saw a figure in the doorway and when a lightning struck in the tree next to the house I could see the man who had two faces instead of one face.<em>

"That never happened!", Claire interrupted loudly and because they had not expected, the team shrugged a little bit scared, "It happened in the last X-Files episode. I've watched it, too."  
>"I wasn´t done yet," Mia complained, "I asked my grandparents about it and they confessed the man was my mother´s older brother. He was born so distorted that they had hidden him in the attic and they only let him out when no one was visiting my grandparents. However, he had fled before I arrived and he was in hiding on the farm. I had to promise never to tell my parents about it."<br>While Claire still protested against Mia's story, Lindsay was looking for a warm sweater in her bag. The blanket, which she had packed she handed to Sue and Jack. The later it got, the colder the air became. Lindsay had initially believed it would stay warm in August at night in the Sierra Nevada, but it wasn´t so. Connor explained the cold air came from the snow-capped mountains and she tried not to cuddle to him too conspicuous.  
>"Who tells the next story now?", Mia asked and her eyes stuck to Connor and Lindsay. When Lindsay saw this, she sighed. "All right," she said, "But I am warning you: It´s a trip into danger zone… The whole thing happened five months ago. I still remember it was a sunny spring day in March, when Connor and I drove alone through a forest in the dusk and the pink cherry blossoms on the trees almost looked orange..."<br>"Oh No," Peter moaned, "Now we hear the story about the unlabeled truck in which frozen aliens were transported?" Then Mia hissed at him, he should be quiet.

_As I said before, it was a beautiful day in March and Connor and I were traveling alone. I swear I had no idea why we were chosen for this task and the strange thing was weren´t allowed to talk to our team about it. We weren´t allowed to talk to Anton or Peter… _  
><em>As dusk began, we drove through a forest, which soon gave way to a barren, almost desert-like landscape. We didn´t know why we should just take that route. Finally, there were many paths which could lead us to our destination. Unfortunately, Peter is right: That's the story of a white delivery truck and we also didn´t know the content of it. In short: The whole mission was a puzzle.<em>  
><em>It was a situation like this because we still had to drive very far when suddenly the cooling of the delivery truck gave out. I was worried and Connor tried to cheer me, so he made a joke that now probably the ice cream in the truck would melt away. For some reason I thought we weren´t chosen to give a joy ride to some ice cream. In addition, we had to check now what the cargo was, which would be broken probably. So we got out to see what it was. We opened the door and cold air was flowing toward us. At first we couldn´t see anything, when... <em>

_...I wished we had something what we could use as defense in case of emergency. The cloud of icy air was gone and I got into the truck. I asked Lindsay to wait at the door cause I wasn´t in the mood to be captured in the truck. I almost slipped once on the icy ground. As I expected, the vehicle wasn´t loaded with ice cream but three elongated containers that looked like blocks of ice. Because warm air came already into the inside of the truck the ice blocks began to melt. Lindsay asked me what I was seeing and I described everything for her very well. I stepped closer to a block of ice, wiped away the frost and saw the huge, black eyes and gray skin of an extraterrestrial. A faint cry escaped, when the alien which was caught in the ice block, suddenly turned the head, looked at me straight and opened a mouth with a row of sharp teeth. I stumbled backwards, slipped now and I tried to leave the truck as fast as I could. Although I didn´t even need to run two meters to the door, I felt like I would need hours for this short distance. When I left the van I slammed the door behind me. Lindsay wanted to know what I had seen and I told her the truck had apparently loaded three frozen aliens. We didn´t know why we were just in this situation. We also didn´t know who brought us into this mess and where these aliens came from. I believed the three aliens would now unfreeze completely, they would probably send signals into space to their mother's ship to pick them up. Who knew what else aliens wanted to do? I already saw myself lying on a cold metal table where I had to endure inhumane tests on me..._

_...Of course I knew we had to do something. This thought came to me very late when we heard a loud crash form the inside of the truck. Two seconds later a strong fist hammered against the inside of the door. I helped Connor to lock the door, saved a bag from the back seat quickly and then we ran. Connor suddenly grabbed my arm and held me. He screamed we couldn´t leave the truck in this solitude, because at some point the aliens would certainly escape from their prison. In all the panic I didn´t understand one single word. Connor then asked if I had a lighter or matches with me, because he just had an idea. I rummaged in our equipment bag, was searching for something useful and finally I handed a box of matches to him. I was shaking. He left me alone on the field, ran to the van, broke open the fuel door and threw a lit match into it. I could see how he ran for cover because of the fire flash. Scared I screamed his name and I called out to him, he should get away from the car before it´ll explode. And thank God Connor heard me, because he came to me and pulled me roughly on the arm. We ran and ran until the truck behind us finally exploded. Exhausted, I collapsed on a muddy field and we both needed several minutes to calm down. In my bag which I had saved out of the truck, I also had my cell phone and so we called for help. This was by far the spookiest thing I had ever experienced and I think I can speak for Connor, too, when I say this. On the other hand, this created a very strong bound between us…_

"It really happened?", asked Sue, who had been following their stories carefully.  
>"I swear to God it happened," Lindsay raised her hand, "Upon my Sam!" Then she grabbed for Connors hand.<br>Sue still didn´t know whether to believe it and she was grateful when Peter proclaimed now, they should take a short break. He also would like to tell them a sinister story, but he could not decide which was scary enough now.  
>"We should collect more firewood," Lindsay suggested and Connor agreed to help her. Anton watched with an amused grin on his face when the two walked away. It was an open secret in the team that there was more than friendship between both. Therefore the two didn´t even mind that Jack and Sue would stay in the tent, which was intended for Lindsay. There was a reason for her to spend the night with Connor.<br>No one in the team ever talked about it. The main thing was that Connor and Lindsay were happy. Anton thought this relationship was very positive even for Connor. Since he and Lindsay were a couple, he was much more relaxed and he also noted he had time off. Connor loved to fill his free time with Lindsay´s nearness. Weeks ago he was persuaded by Lindsay to skip an entire working day: They stayed in bed long and both reported sick in the office. Anton learned only a few weeks later they weren´t really sick and he as responsible person for the OSIR actually had to take them to task, but he refrained. Only happy people were good people and he'd do nothing which ruined their relationship.

"Shall I help you carry?", Connor asked when he and Lindsay walked between the waist-high bushes. "Thanks, that's very nice", Lindsay smiled and handed him a bundle of dry twigs. He behaved always like a gentleman and it wasn´t her style to exploit this, but in this unpleasant task she could need some help.  
>Lindsay still collected more branches. They moved further and further from the camp, when they stood on a hill, looking down on Lake Tahoe. Because the lake in the Sierra Nevada was at an altitude of 1,900 meters, it was also called "Lake in the sky".<br>"We could catch a fish there," said Connor.  
>"It looks really scary but also very beautiful," Lindsay added. The shore on the opposite side was so far away that she couldn´t see to the glittering lights of the city, which should be located there. "Come, let´s go back," Connor suggested. With the branches on his arm, he went ahead and Lindsay followed. They took off the branches next to Anton and then sat down again in front of their tree. The fire was crackling in front of them and Jack put an arm around his wife, who snuggled up to him tired and kissed him. Levi put his head on Sue's legs.<br>"I have a bag of marshmallows with me," Claire said and rummaged in her backpack. She opened the plastic bag and speared some marshmallows on a twig, she had found on the ground. Mia drew her eyebrows horrified. "You really want to eat this?"  
>"Why not?"<br>"I don´t want to know which raccoon already peed on this twig," Mia giggled and even Sue laughed a little. But then she asked: "Claire, what´s the scariest thing which ever happened to you?"  
>"This is not hard question," said Claire, "I was alone on the way home one night and when I drove past the cemetery I had to stop because a branch was blocking the road. I cleared the road, sat back in my car and drove on. Then I realized I was chased by a motorcycle rider. In the rearview mirror I saw, how he repeatedly flashed his headlights. At home, I parked the car in front of my garage, ran to the door and there I was looking frantically for my keys in my purse but I couldn´t find them now. The motorcyclist stopped at the gate, dismounted and came toward me without taking off his helmet. Suddenly he said that he don´t wanted to hurt or scare me, but when I got out of my car next to the cemetery, he saw a man entered my car on the back seat. Then I went back to my car and looked at the back seat where a blood-stained ax was laying which I´ve never seen before."<br>"This story isn´t true," Jack said, "This is a myth. Just like the rumor that Twinkies were nonperishable forever. But I know a story that is much worse than everything we heard tonight... Did you know three kids disappeared 100 years ago in Lake Tahoe? The story tells Tessie had killed them."  
>"Who´s Tessie?"<br>"Tessie is a sea monster. Just as in Loch Ness in Scotland a sea monster is also living in Lake Tahoe."  
>"How should it come into the lake? It may fell from an airplane?", Mia asked," As far as I know, Lake Tahoe has no connection to the ocean."<br>The protest didn´t impress Jack, he continued telling: "As we know the northern part of Lake Tahoe belongs to Nevada, the remaining part belongs to California. By chance we are on the Californian side, where 100 years ago three little girls disappeared in the Halloween night without trace."

_100 years ago, this area around Lake Tahoe was even less populated than today: The people lived on farms that were several miles apart. However, they loved to decorate their homes in the Halloween time. Because the farms were apart from each other, however, it was uncommon to go for Trick or Treat in the night. There was a little hotel which was located on the lake and it was run by a single mother. Her husband had disappeared the previous year on Halloween night without a trace. No one knew why this happened but the neighbors suspected he ran off with another woman. In the Halloween night the woman was very busy in her hotel so she sent her young daughter alone to her best friend, who lived on a farm. In the dark night the little girl was on her way to her friend and because she´d be earlier at her friend´s house if she was walking along the lake she took the route along the shore. The little girl arrived, but also her friend´s parents had no time for the kids. So they went to another girl who also lived on the lake. Because the three girls had any idea what to do in the night they decided to stay at the lake and play. The girls were sitting near the water, when they suddenly heard an eerie noise from the center of the lake. It almost sounded like a loud roar. Instead of running away scared, the three girls wanted to see what kind of animal could cause such a noise. They ran to a boat dock, took an old rowboat and headed out into the lake. They didn´t come far: It is said the monster of Lake Tahoe attacked them and ripped the boat apart. The parents noticed next morning something was wrong when their children were not there and when they looked for them, they discovered the remains of the old rowing boat in the water. The three girls were never seen again. Because people back then didn´t want to believe in monsters, they accused a man from the city he had killed the kids and they hanged him without a fair trial. The next day, after the man was hanged, the mother who owned the hotel at the lake, found a shoe in the water which belonged her daughter. In the shoe was still a part of a human foot. A huge, powerful creature removed it with sharp teeth. The woman then moved away because she never wanted to talk about Lake Tahoe..._

Levi barked when Jack had finished the story. "It was really scary," said Connor, " I haven´t heard about Tessie before. Is it true?" Connor wasn´t sure if he should believe it. Although he was open for such things, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.  
>"I don´t know," Jack finally admitted, "I just know Tessie is described in most cases as large and black. Even zoologists think Tessie is a large sturgeon. In the old stories of the Washoe Indians a creature occurs that fits Tessie´s description. So far, only one video exist which shows the monster, swimming in the water. But actually the Lake Tahoe- Monster isn´t as famous as the Scottish relative Nessie..."<br>For a moment there was silence. Only the rustle of the warm camp fire could be heard. Claire nodded understandingly and once they wished, they had Cooper taken with them. He would certainly know about Tessie.  
>"Excuse me for a second," finally Sue got up heavily from the ground, "The baby is pressing on my bladder..."<br>"I'll take you to the Mobile Lab," Lindsay suggested. There Sue could go to the toilet. As always, Levi accompanied her. "So, you and Connor are together?", Sue asked only out of courtesy and because she had noticed how much in love the two looked at each other and how he silently formed the words "I love you" to her and the team couldn´t hear it.  
>Lindsay nodded. "He's perfect. He is... to be honest, I can hardly put into words, but I think he's the right one. I knew it immediately."<br>"That's nice ..."  
>"Yes," Lindsay sighed, "I don´t want to get too personal, Sue, but how did you know it?" She wondered if it wasn´t extremely hard for Sue to find someone who accepted her the way she was.<br>"He asked me to dance. When I told him this wasn´t a good idea because I couldn´t hear the music, Jack said he would be willing to take that risk and later that evening he kissed me. Since, I knew it", Sue smiled happily when she thought about it. It was nice she could talk about it with Lindsay, even though they didn´t knew each other. Lindsay seemed to be very honestly and sincere.  
>"Do you already have a name for your baby?"<br>"Thousands", Sue smiled, "Although we don´t even know if it's a boy or girl. We want to be surprised." Because they didn´t know Sue and Jack bought toys and clothing for a boy and a girl. "What about you? Do you and Connor want to have kids someday?"  
>"Yes," Lindsay's response wasn´t audible, but the word which formed her mouth was a clear answer for Sue, "I think no one´s better for that job." Sue you didn´t have to explain children were something wonderful because Lindsay already knew.<br>They reached the Mobile Lab, Lindsay inserted the PIN code to open the door and they entered. Lindsay showed Sue the way to the toilet, then she and Levi had to wait for her. Lindsay sat thoughtfully on a desk. What she had just said to Sue, was true: Connor was the right man for her. He was exactly the man whom she had always dreamed of.  
>While Lindsay waited Levi raised his head and looked curiously at the door. He had heard a noise. Levi took a second then he got up and walked to the door. Lindsay heard the jingling of his collar and called for him to stop. But he didn´t care: the Mobile Lab´s door opened automatically from the inside and Levi had disappeared.<br>"Is everything all right?", Sue wanted to know when she left the toilet. Because she could only see Lindsay back, she wasn´t able to figure out what was going on. Lindsay finally turned around to her. "Levi run away," she said, "I called after him he should stay but he wouldn´t listen."  
>Together they went outside and Sue called for her dog. But Levi didn´t come. This was very unusual: Normally Levi was a very obedient dog. Worried Sue hurried back to camp and called Jack. When he saw how she held her belly and how scared she looked like, his heart skipped a beat. He was afraid something was wrong with his baby and he got up in a hurry.<br>"Levi is gone. He doesn´t respond if I´m calling for him", tears came into Sue's eyes, "He never did that before."  
>Lindsay explained the dog ran away and she couldn´t stop him. She suspected Levi was so hungry that he had probably decided to look for something to eat. But Sue didn´t believed.<br>"We have to look for Levi," Jack decided and Peter agreed this was a good idea. Mia and Sue should stay here. "I´m coming with you," Sue said with conviction.  
>"Me too", Mia agreed. She loved the adventure and didn´t want to miss it here in the camp. Maybe Levi was eaten by Tessie, Mia thought. "You stay here!", Connor ordered and equipped with flashlights, they made their way to search for the dog. The moon was hidden behind a thick cloud at the moment and therefore it was frightening darkness. They walked side by side to the place where Connor and Lindsay had already collected twigs for the fire. Maybe Levi was stuck on one of the bushes with his collar but unfortunately this suspicion was not confirmed. "Levi? Levi, where are you?", Lindsay called, but she discovered nothing that could help to find the dog. They reached the place from which Connor and Lindsay could see the lake and suddenly they heard a bark. "There´s Levi!", Jack called, "How the hell did he come there?"<br>They began to look for a flank of a hill and they found a grassy slope on the other side. "That´s gonna work," said Peter and went ahead. One after another stumbled down the hill and they finally reached Levi, who was sitting on the shore and barked to the water. "Hey boy, what's going on?", Jack asked, taking Levi's collar. Lindsay noticed a loud splash on the lake. "I'm afraid, that´s the reason why he barks," she murmured and Jack looked up. He discovered the long, elegantly shaped head of a being whose skin was covered with black scales. The head was on a long neck, rising out of the water and the eyes of the being stared at them.  
>"My goodness," said Claire fascinated, "The Tessie- story is true." She had not believed it, but now...<br>The sea monster came closer with wide open mouth and Claire yelled that she didn´t want to be eaten by Tessie. Once again, Jack grabbed Levi's collar and pulled him away from the lake. They ran as fast as they could and they stopped out of breath when they arrived at the hill, through which they had come to the lake. Jack put down Levi and everybody watched how the monster in the water threw its head back and forth frustrated and gave a loud cry. The clouds in the sky disappeared and the moon light was shining now on the monster´s black skin. It looked just like Jack had described in his story.  
>"This being is a miracle." Anton regretted he left his camera at the camp and couldn´t take a photo.<br>"It's a miracle we´re still alive," Peter corrected. Then he looked at Jack. "Is the dog all right?"  
>Jack nodded. He didn´t know what else to say. He never believed that the story about Tessie, which he read by chance on the Internet, was true. "Let's go back to our camp," Lindsay suggested. There was no reason to hurry. They talked about what they had seen and wondered how this creature probably came into the lake and how it survived there. Connor even suspected it was an illegally imported sea serpent that had been marooned in Lake Tahoe by someone.<br>Finally they reached the camp and Levi welcomed Sue excited. "We should try to get some sleep," said Claire exhausted and Connor and Anton agreed. So they wanted to take the first night watch and would be replaced in two hours by Claire and Peter. They all went back to their tents, while Connor and Anton were sitting in front of the fire. Lindsay also stayed with them and drank a cup of coffee. She smiled amused when she heard how Jack wanted to know if the inflatable mattresses were good enough for his wife´s back. Mia was the last who entered her tent. After Peter had told her they saw a creature in Lake Tahoe she was still disappointed because she had missed the monster. "Good night. Try not to dream about mutants, monsters, murderers, or aliens tonight."

The breakdown service arrived next morning and it took almost an hour until the truck´s engine was repaired. While they had to wait for the repairs Connor, Lindsay, Claire, Mia, Jack and Sue walked to the viewpoint from which they could look at Lake Tahoe. They all admired the nature before they would leave. Today it was unusually cold even though the sun was shining.  
>Then Peter called to them the truck was repaired and they were able to drive on.<br>"Have fun at Lake Tahoe," Lindsay said goodbye to Sue, "And don´t be eaten by Tessie."  
>"We won´t," she smiled. The two exchanged phone numbers and email addresses while Jack thanked Anton and Connor for the strange adventure. He also asked if they experienced such things more often. "You know, the world is full of paranormal phenomena. I'm sure there are many things between heaven and earth of which we don´t know", said Anton, "This was certainly one of them."<br>Jack nodded. Then they parted from each other and Sue promised Lindsay she would send her a photo when the baby was born. In return, Lindsay had to promise she would invite Sue and Jack to her wedding if she and Connor should ever get married. Lindsay laughed and said she would do her best. Sue sent her a "goodbye" in sign language.  
>They all got back into their cars and drove on: As planned Jack and Sue drove to the little cottage near Lake Tahoe while the team drove on to their destination, the airport...<p>

Coming soon: Chapter 2!


	2. The untold Confession

Title: The untold confession  
>Crossover: PSI Factor Sue Thomas FB Eye  
>Pairing: Connor Lindsay, Jack/ Sue  
>Rating: 12<br>Summaries: Connor and Lindsay travel to Washington D.C. to help Sue: Sue's parents don´t know about her and Jack's baby.  
>Notes: I´m proud to say I decided to learn ASL. It´s hard but it´s fun, too.<p>

**The untold confession**

Lindsay has never been to Washington DC before and the more she was looking forward to see her new friend Sue again. They met last August in the Sierra Nevada and because they liked each other, they had exchanged phone numbers and email addresses to stay in touch.  
>Now it was already December and Lindsay remembered Sue would give birth to her baby soon. She hoped she wouldn´t bother Sue, but when she received a disappointed mail two weeks ago were Sue wrote the baby wasn´t born until now, Lindsay knew she had to come quickly. It took a while before she had organized the trip, finally the trip from Toronto to Washington took several hours.<br>Washington DC was already buried under a thick blanket of snow and it even snowed a little when an out of breath Lindsay reached the apartment on the ground floor where Jack and Sue Hudson lived. The couple was probably expecting a visit: Between the branches of a Christmas wreath stuck a note. It was written in very hectic letters: "_The baby is coming_!"  
>Lindsay hastily went down the small stairs and got in the car. Luckily she and Sue were talking about the baby and she knew which hospital was chosen for the birth. It was a hospital which offered new hearing test for newborns and how Sue wrote in an e-mail, it was very important to her, to have certainty about if her baby was healthy. Lindsay then sent a newspaper article by e-mail that less than 5 percent of all deaf children in America also had a deaf parent.<br>The drive to the hospital took almost half an hour, but finally she reached the maternity ward. In the Family Room a group of people was already waiting. Because Lindsay had seen a photo of Sue and her best friend, she recognized the dark-skinned, pretty woman.  
>"Hello. You are Jack´s and Sue´s friends, right?", Lindsay wanted to know and the woman turned around to her. She smiled: "I'm Lucy, Hi."<br>"I'm Lindsay," she saw the blue balloons on which was printed in white letters "It's a Boy!".  
>"How do you know it's a boy?", asked Lindsay skeptical and Lucy reported that the doctor had blurted the baby´s gender at the last examination a few days ago: Sue saw how he told a nurse outside the room that the little Mister Hudson probably wasn´t in the mood to see the light of the world, although he should have been arrived two weeks ago. Then Sue took Jack's hand excitedly. Of course he asked what was going on and she told him over the moon the baby was a boy. And Jack couldn´t keep it private.<br>"Wow," Lindsay agreed, "This is a crazy story."  
>"How do you know Sue and Jack?", asked Lucy, when the door to the waiting area opened and Jack walked in. He looked tired but relieved. "They´re both fine," he said and smiled, "Sue is still a little tired, but Sarah is very healthy. She´s already crying loud and is as pretty as her mother."<br>"Did you say Sarah?", Lucy asked and Lindsay looked confused.  
>Of course, Jack had noticed the blue balloons. "Yes", he agreed, smiling proudly, "It's a girl. The doctor was wrong."<br>Lindsay thought the story was now even crazier. If they would ever decide to camp again one day in the Sierra Nevada and this time they´d tell the weirdest stories of their lives, this was one of them.  
>"Congratulations!", Lucy suddenly sounded excited, "Can we see them?"<br>"They are already in their room," Jack showed his friends the way to the hospital room. In passing he told Lindsay, it was nice to see her.  
>Sue was still very tired but in her eyes was a happy glow. "Meet Sarah Grace Hudson," she said and then she looked at her daughter, "Sarah, this is your aunt Lucy."<br>Lucy noted enthusiastically the girl had blond hair and was incredibly sweet. "May I hold her?"  
>Sue nodded and placed Sarah carefully in Lucy's arms. "Stay in sight with my baby," Jack warned her, "Don´t mess with Daddy…" Then he was laughing and shaking his head, still disbelieving: "My baby… That sounds incredible."<br>Sue discovered her new friend and embraced her warmly. She was very happy that Lindsay had come and she noticed something was wrong. Something was different than when they first met four months ago. "You're pregnant!"  
>"Yes, I´m seven month pregnant", Lindsay said happily and Sue was counting, "That means you were already three months pregnant when we got to know at Lake Tahoe."<br>"And I thought you know from childbirth class," Lucy laughed and swayed Sarah in her arms back and forth. Lindsay told Sue she was able to hide the pregnancy under her long clothes and she also wanted to keep that secret for a moment, until the first trimester was over. Sue had to admit she suspected something like that, after she and Jack were surprisingly invited to a fancy hotel on the countryside, where Connor and Lindsay got married in a small ceremony last September. The wedding was like a dream. The autumn location with colorful leaves on the ground and Lindsay in a wedding dress and a diadem on her head reminded Sue to a movie which she watched once.  
>Although Sue couldn´t believe what she saw, she was very happy for Lindsay and...<br>"Where is Connor?"  
>"Oh, don´t worry about Connor," Lindsay said, "He is looking for a parking space."<br>Once again there was a knock at the door and a little out of breath Connor entered the hospital room. Sue complained because they hadn´t told her earlier they were also expecting a baby. Then they could have talked earlier about antenatal classes, diapers and baby clothes. "Don´t worry," Lindsay assured amused when Connor put his arm around her after he had welcomed Jack, "You still have six weeks to tell me everything in detail."

Three days later, Connor and Lindsay were still in Washington DC. Connor also had never been here and so he apologized to Lindsay on a snowy day: he wouldn´t be a good tour guide in Washington. Not even the little book which he bought was helpful. Moreover, there were many things worth seeing in town and he had no idea where they should start with the tour. So they only visited the West Potomac Park. There, they watched the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Monument and took some photos. Then they ate lunch at a nice restaurant and Lindsay used the time to rest a little. She couldn´t see her feet and she felt as if her belly would constantly win several meters in size second by second.  
>"I´ll burst if your daughter doesn´t come out soon," Lindsay explained to Connor, while she chose a menu and he looked a little confused. Lindsay thought that was so typical! He had no idea how terrible gaining 40 pounds during pregnancy felt, how it was if the shoes don´t fit any longer and how it was if she was sick every morning (Connor was glad he hadn´t gained weight during his wife´s pregnancy). Three weeks ago, Lindsay was captured by the urge of cleaning their apartment from top to bottom. As far as she knew experts called this behavior "the nesting instinct". She wondered how other women could stand it and she had to ask Sue urgency, if giving birth was really as bad as her mother already told her. When Lindsay thought about the impending birth, she sometimes cried so much that Connor had to comfort her in his arms. The hormones were to blame. For several weeks she was much more sensitive and crabby. But it was a very nice experience to expect a baby.<br>Today, Sue was allowed to leave the hospital with her baby and she invited her friends for dinner. Finally, Connor and Lindsay hadn´t been at her nice apartment before and Sue had a new cannelloni recipe, which she wanted to try. Jack tried to persuade her she could order food. Finally, Sue had given birth to a baby three days ago. She better should go to bed and rest. But Sue insisted to cook dinner and she told her husband, he should keep back the number of the Thai delivery service for a different time.  
>When the door bell rang, Levi jumped excitedly out of his basket. "The door," Jack said. He held Sarah in his arms when he answered the door. A monstrous plant was standing in front of him.<br>"Hello. Are we too late?", a voice asked and the plant was shaking.  
>"A speaking plant, Wow," Jack said and stepped aside, "No, you´re in time... Welcome to our humble home." He watched how Connor carried the plant in the apartment and he found a good place between to the Floor-to-ceiling windows and the Christmas tree. The plant was a gift, but of course Lindsay had bought clothes for the baby, too. "It's great that you came," Sue was very happy and thanked for the gift wrapped box.<br>"I'll open the present later, okay?... By the way, this is for you", Sue said and handed Lindsay also a gift, "It helped me a lot and I hope it helps you, too."  
>"Thank you... Can I help you somehow?", Lindsay remarked Sue was still busy with the dessert, when they went into the kitchen area and Jack put the baby in the cradle.<br>"You don´t have to help."  
>"No, that's fine," assured Lindsay. She really didn´t mind Sue to help with the strawberries. She was glad she could take the opportunity to have a little talk with her friend, while Jack and Connor walked out.<br>"Oh, believe me I would give everything for it, if today was the delivery date... I feel like as if I´m close to exploding," Lindsay sounded tired, "Isabella doesn´t make it easy for me."  
>"Isabella a very nice name for a baby", Sue said.<br>"You sound like my parents," Lindsay recalled and smiled.  
>"At least your parents know about your baby," Sue said and Lindsay knew what that meant.<br>"I thought your parents know, too!", Lindsay was confused and noticed the worry in Sue's face.  
>"No. They were already very...", Sue was looking for a suitable word,"...very shocked when Jack and I got married one year ago, so we told nothing about Sarah. They´d believe we rush into this. I can already imagine my mother's face when she finds out about Sarah." It was Christmas Day in ten days and Sue expected her parents wanted to visit her. Or she and Jack would visit her parents. Actually, they already wanted to tell them about Sarah last August, but then Sue changed her mind and they traveled home without telling their parents. Sue was afraid of her mother´s the reaction. She was afraid her mother asked how Sue could be so irresponsible, even though she knew she couldn´t ever hear her daughter cry at night.<br>"Sarah is a healthy baby," Lindsay recalled, "You better tell your parents about Sarah, before they figure it out... Why shouldn´t your mother be happy for you? You found a man you love. He loves you...", when Lindsay said this, Sue had to smile. She had believed for a long time she would never find someone who wanted to be with her, but she loved Jack right from the start. The thought about he was interested in her, sent a swarm of butterflies through her body. He could have every woman in the world, but he only wanted her. Jack wasn´t even put off by the argument it might be different if he wanted to be with her: For example she once told him she couldn´t watch TV without subtitles. He then replied he wouldn´t care if he only was allowed to sit every night on the couch with her and hold her in his arms. Her heart stopped when Jack only looked at her and there was no reason to be concerned: Jack treated her like a princess, they both wanted to have a baby and their wish was fulfilled finally. In the hospital he kissed his wife with so much love when he held Sarah in his arms for the first time.  
>"...Well, and you won´t like this: You're a grown woman. She can´t force you to stay alone for the rest of your live", Lindsay finished her speech. She heard the door open to the garden, Connor and Jack came in and at that moment she noticed another guests because Levi ran to the door immediately. "I hope it's okay I invited Lucy." Lucy and Sue had shared an apartment, when Sue hadn´t lived with Jack and Lucy was still her best friend.<br>"Lucy seems to be very friendly." Lindsay was expecting more visitors, because the table was prepared for more than four people.  
>"Hi Lucy!", Jack said while he opened the front door and Lucy entered. She embraced Sue happily and thanked for the invitation, then they sat down at the table for dinner. After they had eaten the cannelloni, Sue served little cakes which she and Lindsay had prepared during their conversation in the kitchen. "This is Strawberry- Chilli Tart," Sue explained, "It´s a recipe I wanted to try."<br>Meanwhile, Sarah was with them and Lucy held the baby in her arms.  
>"She got me with her incredible culinary skills", Jack laughed and put an arm around his wife when she sat down next to him. Sue was shocked: "No, that's not true...", she laugh and Lucy thought it was funny: "Well, the way to a man´s heart is through his stomach."<br>"In Spain that saying is translated with: Love comes in through the kitchen."  
>"You´ve been to Spain?", Lucy asked, interested, looking at Lindsay.<br>"No, I was on the Internet. I found that saying in an online encyclopedia when I was searching for THE perfect baby name. Our baby will be born in six weeks." Lindsay took Connors hand and looked at him happily while she was talking.  
>"You'd better unpack my gift quickly!", Sue suggested and Lindsay grabbed the small package, which she had placed beside her on the table. She carefully opened the wrapping paper. The gift was a book. Although Lindsay already read the standard book "What to Expect When You're Expecting" long ago she thanked her and she also received cute pink baby shoes.<br>"Now you have to open my gift!", Lindsay yelled and registered how Connor rolled his eyes. He thought Lindsay and Sue were really excited when it was about kids.  
>Sue opened Lindsay's gift and put a small yellow baby jumpsuit out of the box and then she thanked Lindsay. Lindsay hated the color yellow, but unfortunately she had no idea if Sue´s baby was a boy or girl. Therefore, she had bought the cute pink baby suit with a purple hippo print for her own baby. Next, Sue grabbed a beige fluffy baby jacket with cute ears on the left and right of its hat. "In this jacket Sarah will look like a little bear," she laughed. Lucy told she was searching for the meaning of baby names on the internet. In Hebrew Sarah meant "princess" and Jack joked Sarah was his and Sue's princess. The baby on Lucy's arm began to cry and Lucy was worried. She had no experience with babies and she hoped Sarah just needed a new diaper.<br>"Don´t worry, she's all right," Sue said, when she took the baby on her arm, "She´s only crying for attention." When Sarah heard her Mommy´s voice she calmed down instantly and she clung to her neck. Sue noticed how soft and warm the skin of her baby felt. "She often cries if she feels lonely."  
>The door bell rang again. They were done with dinner and Jack was very surprised about another visit when he heard the doorbell again. He got up and told his wife in sign language he would answer the door. To impress Sue he once learned a little sign language and he often used it. Even today she was trembling in happiness, when she thought about the evening when he took her home after a party and then signed her on her doorstep 'I love you'. He wanted to make sure she wouldn´t misunderstand and so he chose a language with was clear to her. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw it and when he kissed her affectionately it was like the world would stand. She was unable to respond. She gave herself up to him and tears were welling up in her eyes when she told him she also loved him very much. Jack stayed with her all night, it was so wonderful to be with him and she enjoyed the kisses on her skin, where she was never kissed before.<br>Sometimes she was still nervous, excited and thrilled when he kissed her.  
>Jack didn´t know what to say when he saw the late visit: Sue's parents.<br>"The visitor parking spaces in front of the house are crowded," Carla said when she entered the apartment, "There´s also a car from Canada... A miracle we found a parking space." Carla noticed they apparently weren´t alone, because she heard two more voices talking in the living room. A female voice complained about insomnia, leg cramps at night and then she asked at what time Sue got labors. Carla watched how Sue got up with an infant in her arms and answered it started about one day before giving birth and then she gently kissed the baby´s cheek.  
>Sue froze when she saw her parents standing in the living room of her apartment.<p>

"Why didn´t you say anything?", Carla asked angry. She didn´t know what to think about the blond baby in her daughter´s arms. She looked at the infant and suspected the baby was only a few days old. "Why didn´t you tell me about your baby?"  
>"I thought...", Sue stammered and Sarah began to sob in her arms. Lindsay got up heavily from the couch where she sat and she told Sue she would take care about Sarah. So she took the baby in her arms and entered the nursery room with Connor and Lucy.<br>Sue swallowed hard and grabbed Jack's hand. "I thought you´d be angry," Sue finally said.  
>"I have every reason to be angry!", Clara shouted and she watched how Jack put an arm around Sue.<br>"Was it your idea?", she asked, "Was it your idea to keep the baby away from us?"  
>Her mother's face looked upset. Sue didn´t like the way her mother furrowed her brow.<br>"It was my idea!", it suddenly burst out of Sue and it wasn´t even a lie, "I couldn´t tell you because you would have reacted exactly the way you react now. You wouldn´t understand why we..."  
>"...Why you´re taking the risk of having a baby which could also be deaf?"<br>"Sarah is a healthy baby, Mom!"  
>But Carla hadn´t finished: "You became deaf when you were one and a half year old, Sue!... I can´t understand why you´re taking the risk you can´t even hear your child cry…!"<br>"Being happy includes a husband AND a baby for me. You can´t expect…"  
>"…Levi could attack the baby!"<br>"He would never do that!", Sue defended her dog. She suspected her mother registered the desperation in her face. "I thought you were a bit more intelligent and responsible, Sue!"  
>This statement was like a slap in the face for Sue and she looked depressed to the floor after she saw her mother saying this. Then she felt how Jack let her go, he went to Clara and her Dad and sent both out. She didn´t see what he told them because she was so struck by her mother´s anger she had to sit down. When Jack was standing in front of her, he grabbed her hands and she got up. Sadly she threw her arms around his neck and tried to hold back her tears. "I'm sorry she said this," Jack murmured, although he knew she couldn´t hear him.<br>"I was right," she said, "My mother wouldn´t understand."

Lindsay, Connor and Lucy were alarmed when they heard a door fall. Then they heard Sue crying and sobbing, she told Jack she was right that her mother wouldn´t understand and about one minute later she entered the nursery room to take Sarah on her arm. She hugged her baby tightly.  
>"We should leave," Connor suggested softly and Lucy nodded in agreement. Lindsay also wanted to go, but she stood in the doorway, when Sue wanted to know if she had heard the conversation.<br>Lindsay came back to her and stood beside her. "Every single word," Lindsay knew, Sue had imagined the first evening at home with her baby a little bit differently, "Your parents have a very bad timing."  
>"Yes, that's right," Sue nodded. She loved her parents but of course she already noticed she and Jack were always disturbed at inappropriate moments: After she and Jack spent their first night together, they slept long in her bed in the next morning. Sue slept in Jack's arms until the sun woke her and she snuggled against his warm skin. She was a bit scarred when her mother was suddenly standing in the doorway and shook her head. Her parents visited unannounced, Carla asked her if she was serious and Sue felt like a little child. It was embarrassing for her, her mother had just caught them after their first night together. Even Lucy was a bit surprised, but in a positive way and she said it was high time they finally talked about their feelings and obviously they also showed it.<br>Similarly, Sue remembered a weekend last April. It was a weekend in which she didn´t know she was expecting a baby and she and Jack had visited her parents in Ohio. On a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning they walked past a small pond. Jack picked up a twig and threw it for Levi. The dog chased after the twig, grabbed it and rushed back to Jack. "Levi, don´t!", he cried when he saw the dog wouldn´t stop in time. Levi jumped up at him and threw Jack backwards into the water. It wasn´t his intention to hold on to Sue, so he also pulled her on her arm into the cold lake. Sue began to laugh and pointed water in his direction. Then she swam to him, threw her arms around his neck and began to kiss him. Her blouse was completely soaked. He lifted her up, while their kiss became deeper and deeper. Jack suddenly stopped kissing her. "Is everything all right?", Sue asked.  
>"Your mother is calling for you," Jack told her and she saw how Clara was on the other side of the small pond and looked quite angry. Disappointed Sue noted she and Jack would never be alone, at least not here. Clara scolded them because it was too cold to swim yet, she would certainly get a cold and Sue told her mother it wasn´t Jack's intention to pull her into the water. Actually Carla liked Jack but when Sue and Jack got married, Sue sometimes believed her mother began to hate him. When she and Jack returned home, Sue actually got the flu and then a doctor found out she was pregnant. She ran immediately to the office, hugged Jack and told him about the baby. It was one of the happiest moments in her life, but when she wanted to grab the phone to tell her mother, she couldn´t. Sue came to the conclusion she couldn´t count on her mother´s help or support. They were alone.<br>Lindsay and Connor stayed late into the night until they were convinced Sue was well. Late in the evening they drove back to their hotel.

_The things that you can give to me _  
><em>I can feel it when your holding me close <em>  
><em>You 're Like one of the world wonders <em>  
><em>I know I'm going under <em>  
><em>Come see that I'm ready for this <em>  
><em>And you're so good for me <em>  
><em>You're my true joy <em>  
><em>You make me wanna say <em>  
><em>Through strength I found love <em>  
><em>In time I found myself in happiness with you <em>("Happiness" by Alexis Jordan)

In the night Levi jumped on Sue´s and Jack´s bed. He pawed impatiently at Sue's arm and when she didn´t respond, he pushed Jack. "Good morning, Levi," he said, half asleep and thought even Sarah was quiet at night, but he knew it wouldn´t stay that way.  
>Jack noted how the phone rang. In the darkness he walked through the apartment and grabbed the phone. "Hudson residence", he answered, listened attentively to the caller and after two minutes, he hung up. He hurried back into the bedroom and woke Sue. "We have to get to the hospital," he told her, "Lindsay was dizzy and collapsed."<p>

The ambulance brought Lindsay to the same hospital in which Sue had delivered her baby because it was closer to the hotel where Connor and Lindsay lived during their stay in Washington. During the entire drive Sue asked herself what happened. She and Jack finally reached the maternity ward of the hospital. They met Connor, who looked tired and worried. "How is she?", Sue asked anxiously.  
>"Both are okay at the moment," Connor replied, "She was... We were in our room and she was about to go to bed when she suddenly collapsed." Connor took a moment, he had to sit down, "The doctors say it would be no problem if the baby was born at the end of the thirty-fourth week of pregnancy. But it´s better if it would wait for another while."<br>Sue nodded understandingly and looked anxiously to Sarah, who slept in her portable car seat.  
>"Lindsay now has to stay in bed. That´s why the doctors fly her back home today by helicopter."<br>"Can we do something?", asked Sue, "We... We could go to the hotel to get Lindsay's stuff." Connor thanked for this proposal and so he handed them the card with which they could enter the hotel room. When Sue packed Lindsay's clothes in a suitcase at the hotel room she thought about how awful it had to be for Connor. He couldn´t help his wife and she wondered how Jack would have reacted if something happened to her and Sarah. Lindsay was a very good friend and when Sue had written in an email her baby wasn´t born yet, Lindsay promised to come to Washington as soon as possible to help her. It was time Sue returned the favor.

"It's very nice you want to help me, but you wouldn´t have to come to Canada," Lindsay explained next evening when she and Sue were sitting on the couch in her and Connors house. The flight by helicopter from Washington to Toronto had just taken a few hours last night. Connor had accompanied Lindsay during the flight, while Jack and Sue drove Connors car back to Toronto. They were almost ten hours on the road and arrived in the late afternoon. Jack had some days off so he could help his wife with the baby and he didn´t mind if Sue wanted to travel to Canada. Both were never been to Canada before and Sue had the feeling her parents wouldn´t miss her. After their last conversation she hadn´t talked a word to them and she believed it would probably take a while until she felt ready to forgive them. Until then, Sue would help Lindsay.  
>The hospital stay in Toronto was short, after Lindsay´s and the baby´s condition had improved. Nevertheless, Lindsay had to stay in bed as long as possible. With a bad conscience Lindsay asked if Sue wasn´t tired and she shook her head. Jack drove the car and he was resting in the guest room (Because of they had brought Connor's car to Toronto, Lindsay insisted they should at least accept the offer to stay in the guest room. They even had a travel bed for their baby in which Sarah was allowed to sleep.).<br>"That's okay. I´ve never been to Canada before and it´s very exciting!", Sue said, walked into Lindsay's kitchen to get two cups of tea, "Jack has a few days off and he´s here, Sarah is with us and Levi also helps me. I don´t need more…. And I must be sure you're doing well."  
>Gratefully, took Lindsay a cup of tea but she already had a premonition Sue´s trip to Toronto wasn´t just because she wanted to help. "Sounds as if you flee from your parents," she answered when Sue sat down on the couch again, "Did you talk to your parents?"<br>"No. After they left our apartment, I had to calm down first. And then you were brought to hospital..."  
>"I see," Lindsay nodded, "We are your excuse."<br>"That´s not what I wanted to say... But my mother said she´s thinking it´s very stupid and irresponsible to have a baby in my condition."  
>Lindsay became angry. She wondered which condition she was talking about but she decided to calm down: "I´m sure, it wasn´t meant that way."<br>"It was meant that way", she added. "I know better." She had never seen her mother so angry, Carla had never said such terrible things to her and she didn´t know if she could ever forgive her.  
>When the door to the guest room opened Jack came in. Jack felt much better. He looked now much better than when he arrived and he asked where Connor was. Lindsay told she sent her husband to the supermarket. On the assumption they would return home in one week, they had no food in the fridge and they desperately needed something to eat. Sue already agreed to cook dinner, Lindsay should rest.<br>Levi began to bark and they turned around to look at the front door. He announced that Connor was coming home with a large filled paper bag. "Here you are!", Sue cried, getting up. She took the bag from Connor. "What do we do this evening?", she wanted to know then. Since they now had a baby, going out times were limited, but that didn´t bother her. She loved Jack and he was also crazy about her and his sweet, adorable baby.  
>"When we arrived, I saw there´s a small video store two streets away", suggested Jack and took his crying daughter in his arms.<br>"This is a good idea," Connor said.  
>"Fine! We can choose between..."<br>"What about me?", Lindsay yelled, "I'm sitting on the couch all day and watching TV! Do you think I want to continue in the evening?"  
>"Calm down," Sue's voice sounded warningly when she unpacked the items in the kitchen and saw her friend talking, "That's not good for your blood pressure and for your baby!"<br>"Okay, I give up!", Lindsay was annoyed, "I have no choice anyway! Let's watch a movie! "

Next morning, Sue and Jack were sitting alone at the breakfast table. Because Connor and Lindsay haven´t shown up, they noticed something must have happened. They waited and waited.  
>In the late morning Sue was walking restlessly through the living room with Sarah on her arm and the baby sobbed occasionally, when the door opened.<br>"Thank God, there you are!", Sue said concerned when she saw him, "Where's Lindsay?"  
>"Lindsay was in labor last night," Connor told, "The baby is born. Don´t worry, they´re doing well. Isabella has to spend one week in an incubator, but then she can come home with us, she´s even able to breathe." Connor now showed them a photo of his daughter.<br>"My good, she is so sweet! Congratulations!", Sue cried and took his digital camera, "Can we see them?"

The baby was doing well and when Sue visited her friend for the first time in hospital, she greeted her with the words "Hi, Mommy. I am so proud of you" and hugged her. Lindsay explained she had never felt such terrible pains before and Sue had to laugh. She noted Isabella had her Dad's dark hair and her Mom´s blue eyes. The baby was also incredibly sweet and pretty.  
>One week later, Lindsay and the baby were allowed to leave the hospital. They would spend the coming Christmas at home as a family. Sue was very relieved that her friend´s baby was alive and well. She and Jack wished they could stay in Toronto a little longer than one week, but the center of their lives was in America. Nevertheless, they were sure they would meet again. At the farewell Lindsay said they should also have their next child at the same time. So they could be pregnant together.<br>Sue and Jack were back home in Washington DC since one day, when they got unannounced visit in the afternoon. Sue carried Sarah on her arm, Levi ran excitedly to the door and Jack signed his wife that someone asked for their attention.  
>"Where have you been?", asked Carla after Jack had answered the door and she came in, "Your neighbor told us she had heard how Jack said the middle in of the night in the hallway you´d have to go to hospital and then you left the apartment with Sarah... Can you imagine how worried your father and I were when we noticed you left town one week ago?"<br>"A friend was sick. She and her baby where in danger... If you're worried about Sarah, she´s doing very well", Sue now looked affectionately at the little blond baby on her arm, "Aren´t you, honey?"  
>Sue observed how Jack and her father were talking quietly. Unlike her mother, they looked very peaceful. Then Jack came to her and put his arms around Sue.<br>"I´d like to talk to you alone," Carla said and Jack nodded in agreement. He signed to Sue he would leave the apartment for a few minutes with her Dad and Levi. Then the two women were alone. With Sarah in her arms, Sue sat on the couch and she was curious to see what would happen now. Her mother sat down beside her.  
>Carla swallowed and crimped a tissue in her restless hands. While Sue, Jack and the baby were untraceable for one week, she could think about many things. Carla finally looked at her daughter. "There were many things I shouldn´t have said," Carla apologized, "I'm very sorry I lost my nerve when your friends were here. First I was shocked you are afraid to tell me about my grandchild. Don´t think I hate you for what you have done... I'm very happy for you and Jack. It wasn´t stupid to have a sweet and healthy baby, It´s very courageous you still fight for your dreams."<br>"Thanks, Mom."  
>"It´s just… I sometimes wish you´d be my little girl forever. For me it´s hard to realize you´re a Mom, now… I was wrong about you and your husband... Jack cares much about you and protects you... Do you think he can forgive me?", Carla asked and Sue nodded frantically.<br>"Can you forgive me, too?", Clara asked now and gulped a stream of tears. Sue nodded when her mother hugged her as best as possible and then Clara wanted to know if she was finally allowed to hold her granddaughter. Jack and Sue's Dad watched them through a window and they looked very satisfied. Clara laughed, when Sarah on her arm began to cry. "She´s wonderful, Sue", she sobbed, "She´s wonderful, just like you."

Fin


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